UK climbs EU tax league

According to a new study by the accountancy firm KPMG the United Kingdom now has the fourth highest rate of income tax out of all the EU states.

The KPMG annual individual income tax and social security rate survey revealed that the creation of the 50 percent tax bracket has propelled England to fourth place, a large leap of nine spaces from last year’s 14th place ranking.

At present the only EU countries with higher rates of income tax are Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. Belgium and Austria were on level pegging with the UK, but its jump up the chart has seen it eclipse the tax rates of Germany and France.

At the bottom of the table lie Bulgaria, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, the EU countries with the lowest rates of tax.

In previous years it appeared there was a decline in personal income tax rates but now that has ceased. A spokesman for KPMG said: “The steady global decline in top personal income tax rates over the past seven years appears to have come to an end and is now in the midst of a turnaround. The movements within this year’s survey suggest governments in many cases have opted for a tax-rate increase approach to combat deficit concerns.”